


Head for Higher Ground

by WonkyWarmaiden



Category: Original Work
Genre: Child Death, Gen, Ghosts, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-04 17:22:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonkyWarmaiden/pseuds/WonkyWarmaiden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when four people are gifted with the powers of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the responsibility of seeing the world to its end?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Death

Cole is ten when he experiences his first death.

Jimmy, the eight year old from two houses over, runs in front of a car when he chases his basketball into the road. Jimmy's mom screams out but it's too late and Cole flinches at the sound of the impact. Blood pools on the ground as Jimmy's mom cries uncontrollably over her son's body.

One of the neighbors must have called 911 because Cole can hear sirens in the distance. The man that had been driving is standing awkwardly by his car, looking horrified and pale. Cole notices the man's lips are moving and he wonders what you say to someone whose son you just killed.

A hand grabs Cole's shoulder and pulls him around. "Don't look, son, go inside," his dad says to him and pushes him back toward the house where his mom is standing in the open front door.

"Yes sir," Cole says with a final glance back at the accident. The blood on the pavement has spread down the gutter and is slowly pouring into the sewer.

"Go," his dad orders again.

Cole hurries up the front steps and his mom catches him by the shoulders, leading him inside to the living room.

"Stay in here for a little while, okay sweetie?" she says and turns the television onto cartoons. Cole nods and his mom strokes his cheek before heading back outside.

He sits there for a few minutes watching the bright colors on the TV until he hears the ambulance arrive outside. Cole stands to peek out the window, his view is a little obscured by his mom's rose bushes but he can make out the ambulance lights through the leaves.

"This sucks, my birthday was next week," says a sudden voice from behind him.

Cole spins to find Jimmy standing there. He's cover in blood and his body is twisted in horrifying way that makes bile rise in Cole's throat.

"Shouldn't you be more worried about the whole being dead thing?" Cole asks, trying not to look at the way Jimmy's ribs are sticking out through his chest.

The dead boy smiles. "I'm dead, why should I worry?"

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you go to your mom?" Cole asks as he wonders how he'll explain the bloodstains on the carpet to his parents.

"I dunno, I just felt like if I came to you everything would be okay." Jimmy shrugs and something inside of him grinds against something else.

Cole swallows hard. "I don't know what I could do to help you."

"Maybe just...tell me that everything'll be okay?" Jimmy says and he looks scared for the first time since he'd shown up all mangled and bloody.

Cole nods reassuringly. "Everything will be okay, your mom too," he says.

Jimmy smiles again. "Thanks Cole, I always liked you."

Cole blinks and the dead boy is gone, so are the bloodstains. Outside, he hears the ambulance drive away.


	2. War

Roger is eleven when he gets into his first fight. Tony, the biggest kid in Roger's class, is picking on several of the smaller kids.

Roger glances over to see that their teacher isn't even paying attention to the playground, instead she's chatting with a few of the other teachers. Roger stands from the bench he is sitting on and walks over to the monkey bars that Tony isn't letting the other kids play on.

"Tony stop it, the monkey bars aren't your property," he calls up to the other kid.

Tony's attention turns to him and he jumps down from the monkey bars ladder. "What'd you say?" Tony asks, pushing Roger with a big hand.

Roger grits his teeth at the rough contact. "I said you're an asshole," he hisses up at the taller boy and Tony's fist connects with his face a second later. Roger's head snaps to the side and his vision goes red, anger overtaking any pain he should be feeling. With a cry, he jumps at Tony and topples them both to the dirt.

Roger keeps screaming as his fists connect over and over with Tony's face. Tony is screaming too but it's because Roger's fist meets solidly with his nose and it crunches out of place.

Strong arms wrap around Roger's middle and pull him off of Tony. "Roger, what are you doing!?" his teacher screams in horror as she pull him back several feet from the bloody, crying child slumped on the ground.

"He deserves it!" Roger yells back and tries to escape her grip, tries to get back to Tony to finish the job.

The teacher grabs desperately at him. "Stop it right now, what's gotten into you!?"

Roger doesn't know, but he likes it.


End file.
